This Hoopoe, along with 4 others, was cleaning up a temple lawn in Korea (grass here is always this colour in winter). This bird seemed to be rooting out twice as many grubs as the others so I kept following it. Earwigs, spiders and beetles on the lawn surface were also on the menu, but this green underground grub was the favourite.
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Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
D500 + Tamron 150-600mm (@600mm). 1/3200 f6.3 ISO 2500
Taken when the light was going, hence the high ISO.
After ACR basics, Topaz Denoise, PS Shadows and Curves, some selective darkening of the background and finally a little Topaz Sharpen.
Great job noticing their differences and picking the best one for this kind of shot. I’ve never seen these birds IRL but I imagine it’s like watching brown thrashers or flickers hunting on the lawn. Lots of hopping, running and mad stabbing. So much entertainment for us. The details and color here are really nice. And as Dennis pointed out, the low angle gets us engaged that much more.
A superb image of this beautiful bird. In some regions of Spain there are many, easy to be heard but not so easy to capture as they are very alert. The time you invested to watch the individual behaviour paid of the hoopoes. Perfect moment, great detail in the bird, nice dark BG.
